Tuesday, December 2, 2008

This time we got a chance to chat with Tyler, 1/2 of the rising superstars Classixx. I'm sure most of you have heard at least a few of there well crafted, funky tracks. They've been all over magazines, top friends lists, and blogs for quite some time now so unless you've been living a rock you really have no excuse for not having checked them out. Well if you really haven't then check them out now, and read this interview to find out a little more about them.

Thanks so much for the interview! Ready to get started?

Sure let's do it.

Alright so would you start off by telling us your name, and Classixx other members name?

I'm Tyler Blake and the other half of Classixx is Michael David

How and when did you guys meet?

We went to the same middle school, actually. It was a small school so all the kids who played in bands knew each other pretty well.

You guys used to go by the name Young Americans. Wanna explain what happened to that?

Yeah... basically this song and dance collective that was also called Young Americans sued us. We could have either gone to court with them at the risk of losing tons of money we don't have or change our name. So we just changed it. It was definitely a drag for a while but at this point it's just kind of funny.

Ya. Once you guys were rid of that name how did that name Classixx come about?

We've always been in to the kind of tracks that have gone on compilations with names like "Disco Classics", "House Classics", "Minimal Classics", etc. We just want to make tracks like that. Then we decided to spell classics wit 2 x's because it looked pleasing and makes us easier to google.

What kind of music did you guys grow up listening too and do you think that still influences you today?

Everything form Paul Simon to Kraftwerk to Talking Heads. Lots of old R&B too. Most of the stuff I have ever liked I still like. So I think all of it still influences us in lots of ways.

When did you first start making music?

As long as I can remember really... my family always had a piano in the house and as soon as I was big enough to get up on the bench I started playing with that. Mike was the same with the guitar I think. In middle school when we started playing in bands... I think that's when we first really started dreaming of doing it for a living.

How would you describe the music you make today?

We have been working on all kinds of stuff. Right now we are finishing up a few tracks that are basically disco tracks driven by vocals, but we are also working on instrumental stuff. Some of the stuff is meant for the club, other stuff is meant to be able to listen to in your car. Some it is deep, some if it is lighter.

So you guys are based in Los Angeles. How do you feel about the electronic music scene here?

Oh it's amazing. All of us have become friends. We just started a collective called No Culture. Our friends Guns N Bombs, Acid Girls, and Royal Rumble are all part of it. We all push each other to be better DJs and producers.

Oh very cool. Any chance of some DJ shows with that collective in the future? I just got a chance to see Guns N Bombs live for the first time, and they were excellent. I'd love to have a good reason to see them again soon!

Definitely. We just secured a residency at the echo. We will all be rotating residents. We will also be in charge of all the booking. We are also working on getting a warehouse space to throw regular after hours parties at. We're really excited about it.

Awesome. What do you use to make your music, and what do you use to DJ?

We use Pro Tools and a bunch of analog synths and soft synths for production. We also record a lot of live instruments like guitars and drums. We DJ with Serato Scratch Live or CDJ's.

When you are DJing do you just know intuitively which songs to drop based on the crowd or does it take you guys a little bit to figure out what they like?

We try to feel em out. Like if it's a small room we aren't gonna play big room tracks. They're called big room tracks for a reason. Just stuff like that. Usually we are pretty good at figuring out what will work. Sometimes there are crowds that will go nuts to anything and other times there are crowds that won't dance to "Show Me Love".

Ahhh who could not dance to Show Me Love! Ridiculous. Haha. Anyway, do you guys have one song or maybe a few songs that you love, play often, and know will get the party banging?

Yeah definitely. Like I usually play I Found You by Axwell or anything by Prydz. That stuff makes shit go off. We've got some secret weapons as well. Haha.

Is there one city you really like to play more than other cities?

It's funny but we really love playing Salt Like City, Utah. We've got a bunch of friends there now and have played there a bunch of times and each time it goes off harder. I always look forward to those dates when they are on our calendar.

So take us through a day in the life of the Classixx boys.

We usually try to wake up each day at a reasonable hour. Work on music. Lunch. Work on music. Dinner. Just like a normal job really. We also try to respond to everyone that's hit us up on myspace each day. Feels like a full time job. Either that or we are touring.

Wanna give us a few upcoming artists to watch out for?

Yeah. All our No Culture friends. Also, Tie Dye is amazing. Beni from Australia. I'm excited for new stuff from Yacht, Holy Ghost, and Aeroplane.

And how about some of your favorite tracks at the moment?

We did a mix recently for Fluokids of some of our favorite tracks. There is this vocal house track called "It's My Pleasure". It's the Paul Rincon remix. If you drop that at the right time in the right setting it's stupendous. I also really like Yuksek's new track "I Like To Play".

Any big tours coming up for you guys?

Right now we have a few dates in South Africa and then a big New Years Eve gig here in Los Angeles. After that we've got some scattered dates between working on our EP.

What's in the future for you guys? Remixes, originals, maybe an album eventually?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Aha. We are taking our time just getting everything right. There has been interest in some different labels and things like that, but nothing is set in stone yet. We recently finished remixes for Guns N Bombs and Beni (both on Kitsune). Those should be out soon. We are pretty happy with them.